Breaking Barriers:
The right to education in
sign language for Deaf people is safeguarded by the United Nations Convention
on the Rights of People with Disabilities. Under this treaty, governments
have an obligation to facilitate the learning of sign language and to promote
the linguistic identity of the Deaf community.
In concrete terms, this
means employing teachers who are qualified in the national sign language, and
training teachers at all levels of education to work with deaf pupils. Central
to this approach is empowering deaf children, young people, and parents to help
design and carry out education in sign language.
“Without the ability to use
sign language on the most basic level, Deaf people face significant barriers to
being independent,” Barriga said. “Communication skills are fundamental to
getting jobs and participating in the communities and family life.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/human-rights-watch/the-power-of-sign-langaug_b_4122329.html
Our Aim:
The
documentary will help developing awareness of the usage of the living cultural
sign languages and multi-facet layers of everyday Deaf
Indigenous culture. It will demonstrate the code-switching between community
members from cultural sign languages and everyday sign language
We
believe this documentary will create awareness to help influence governments
and aid organizations to help change people’s lives especially those from
developing countries.
Our Project:
We
will tell stories from Deaf people in the Solomon Islands, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in Australia
and Maori in New Zealand.
The Solomon Island
The head of a school for deaf youth north of the Solomon Islands capital Honiara says the deaf are the
most neglected of all the people living with disabilities in his country.
George van der Sant says
he’s in no doubt that there are thousands of deaf Solomon Islanders,
particularly in remote parts of the country, who lost their hearing through
infection with malaria.
Brother
George says no one from government has ever visited his school and for the
majority of deaf people in Solomon Islands, there’s precious little government
help.
“For me, government don’t do anything, hardly do anything.
They talk about it and they know that it’s their job to do something but I talk
to our students, ’You are mysteries. You are mysteries. You must wake up these
people’.”
But
many deaf youth are also mysteries to their families, the majority of whom do
not try and learn sign language and consign their deaf children to a life of
solitude.
Sister
Ana says family involvement is crucial.
“That’s what I say in the beginning, it will be nice if
those students whom are here, their parents would be able to come around. And
that is another thing, that they don’t come. This is like a dumping place for
their children. They bring them, they never return to visit them. They only
wait until they come home, for holidays.”
Lynette
Manakera, who is 19 and can lipread as well as sign, tells me her mother,
sister and brother all communicate with her in sign language.
I
ask her what she wants to do with her life.
“I want to be a teacher, a teacher at this school.”
Mary
Maneka, who is a teacher and translator at San Isidro, reiterates the
importance of communication for deaf children.
Parents
who don’t learn sign language, she says, tend to use their deaf children as
ceaseless workers, socialising with them only at mealtimes.
Ms
Maneka says those deaf youth tend to be aggressive, with behavioural
difficulties that return once they’ve graduated from the school.
“Some of the students share about their sadness and then I
encourage them and say, ’You have to, to stand in your own way. When they do
something like that to you, you talk and you have confidence to say something
to them so that they can understand you’.”
Solomon
Islands is a example of under resourced people with disabilities. Deaf Solomon
Islanders have virtually no resources to meet their needs. The only way they can survive on a daily
basis is to have a sense of belonging by sharing their own valves and
experiences as a Deaf person using the same language and culture. However, they
do ‘speak’ of their frustration with the government as their requests for
support and resources are continually ignored.
The San Isidro Care Centre located
outside Honiara, educates Deaf people from the ages of 14 and over, over a
duration of four years. Courses such as
English, Maths, Business, Sign Language, Agriculture, Life skills, Carpentry,
Woodwork, and Practical Trade and Skills are offered. The centre also advocates for basic human
rights for Deaf people and empowers them through training of these basic
academic and skilled subjects, of which they were deprived because of their
deafness.
a short clip of Deaf Solomon Islanders http://stretchproductions.co.nz/page.php?ref=services-item&id=edit4f4154409208d
Australia – Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Stories
There
are many stories to be told from the Deaf Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community.
These
are 2 stories we can share now, with some more to be filmed.
Patty
“My
life was sad from the beginning, when I lost my hearing at age 2. My life was all and will always be about my Aboriginal culture, I learnt
lots as a small child about my community and stories told to me by my Elders.
I was trusted and learnt that I didn’t want to
lose my sign language with the old people. So I went back and learnt this
language. My blood line has me from
different language groups, so I learnt different signing from the Elders to
talk in my bloodline, women’s business and with Elders. There was a lot of
broken English and different tribes using different culture lore. But I love my
belonging to country and all the important learning of my spirits and sign
language to talk to the old people.
I use my art, my skills taught by Percy and
from Elders and women to help me connect my spiritual self. I paint mostly
spirit images and life in Cape York. It belongs to me, I belong to it. I use my
dream time to help my artwork, to give me peace and I become calm in my heart
and mind when I do art. I use my art to help others understand culture, that
when I travel to other parts of the Cape I see their broken English and strong
cultural sign languages that they still use after many generations that’s still
our living culture.
I
love teaching the small children stories of the dream time, dancing with the
other deaf mob and doing art with them to be inspired to have a better life and
be cultural safe and proud.”
Sue
“I
am from Badu Island in the Torres Strait, I was born deaf, and from early age
my life was lovely and simple. My family didn’t care I was deaf and made no big
deal about it, I learnt old Island sign language. And my other family use
signing to communicate all the time, this gave me peace and love in my family.
When
I was young I was sent to Cairns for school as my learning needed more sign. I
lived in Cairns for school and home to my Torres Strait family on holidays. I
miss my home very much but family were strong and taught me that learning is
good, to take back to the Badu what I have learnt and share with the other deaf
children.
I love my old sign language, my Island sign
language it gives me strength and knowledge of my history and culture. The old
people say we must keep alive our signing for our future and ceremony.
I love supporting my people and sharing my
knowledge with them and learning new ways to help my deaf family learn sign
language and keep our old ways alive as living culture. My life is hard
sometimes as many do not understand Islander sign language and lots of racism
in Cairns against our peoples. But I keep a good positive attitude and stay
with my family and deaf mob in socialising and doing deaf dance and gatherings.
This gives me a strong spirit and healing when
I am with my mob”.
New
Zealand – Maori StoryMoari
Deaf community around New Zealand share similar experiences compared with Deaf
Solomon Islanders and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. Those from the Solomon Islands have less
western influence and their traditional customs are largely preserved dating
back from hundreds of years. However,
Deaf Indigenous people from Australia and New Zealand were largely influenced
by the education system and urban societies. Many of these people were
transferred to Deaf schools and some were residential students. In New Zealand,
there are 2 main schools for deaf children, Kelston School for Deaf (Now known
as Kelston Deaf Education Centre) in Auckland and Van Asch School for Deaf (now
know as Van Asch Deaf Education Centre) in Christchurch. These schools had a
large intake of Maori Deaf children from rural areas and as a result, they were
plucked from their Whanau who has strong cultural ties from their ancestors to
a western learning environment. Moari Deaf students became a Deaf student
interacting with other students all sharing the same language, New Zealand Sign
Language. Maori issues were not prominent as these schools did not cater
cultural and protocol needs of Maori Deaf students. It had a devastating effect
on Maori Deaf students not only their education was below par, but also
identity issues in terms of where they belong.
As
so much of Maori culture is orally based, Deaf children have frequently missed
learning the skill and protocols which would make them comfortable on a Marae.
Many cannot ask questions of their Elders because their Elders do not know sign
language.The Ruamoko Maraehas given students the opportunity to learn Marae
protocol, art, crafts and culture.
Richard Peri, born
in Gisborne, only has a hazy memory of what happened when he got sick at the
age of three. The last words he heard was his sister telling him he is very
sick with meningitis. As suddenly as if someone flicked a switch, his world
went silent. He couldn’t hear anymore.
The isolation, the loneliness, the frustration
must have been maddening for this youngster. At first, the whanau was
helpless. No one did sign language to
bridge that chasm silence.
In the early 60’s, there wasn’t a lot of
support for deaf people, and his parents solution was to send him away to a
Catholic Deaf School in Feilding. The first person he met was a nun, he didn’t
know what that was and then with everybody gesticulating and grimacing weirdly,
made Richard freak out. After a while he started to adjust to the regime, but
not without many incidents that did not help with him fitting into any society
or group.
Richard learnt to sign, but authorities
thought sign language as a second rate from of communication. They believed
that deaf children should master speech even though some never heard any words.
Come holidays, he was back to square one, where he couldn’t communicate with
his seven brothers and sisters, or even his parents. Gradually he taught them.
By age 11, Richard realise that sport is an
interest to him and he shows potential. He moved to the Sumner School of the
Deaf in Christchurch and by 1974 became a pioneer in sport being played by a
deaf person. He played rugby, league, basketball and started coaching various
teams.
There is another side to Richard, of course.
He is taha Maori. He has ties with Ngati Porua and, through his dad, to Nga
Puhi. But it wasn’t till he was 23 that the penny dropped and that he belonged
to a marae, iwi and even Maori had their own language. With Maoritanga so
dependent on the spoken word, and with deaf people missing out on karanga, the
whaikorero, the stories and the history, Richard wanted to do more.
Richard has many stories to tell and we want
to capture those and his influence in preserving sign language, but also
developing the languages of indigenous people and especially the Deaf
Indigenous Community in New Zealand.
Patrick
Thompson, QSM, for Moari and Deaf community services, Ngati Paoa and Ngati
Whanaunga has worked with the Deaf Maori community for more than 20 years as an
educator, social worker and advocate. Patrick has worked in promoting NZ Relay,
and brings his experience working at Te Roopu Wairoa Trust and Deaf Aotearoa.
Patrick is currently an educator associate for the Kelston Boys High School
Deaf Unit. Patrick is regarded as the ambassador on behalf of Maori Deaf
community around New Zealand.
Maori
service providers lack resources specifically for Maori Deaf. Patrick is
passionate to lobby for better services for Deaf Maori. Maori Deaf community in
general has lower social and economic status due to lack of qualifications and
high unemployment. Many of these people live to extreme poverty and have health
issues.
In his
spare time, Patrick enjoys art, painting, cooking, reading and biking. He
currently lives in West Auckland.
Disclaimer: "this film project
acknowledges the Traditional Owners, Elders and communities of the Deaf
Indigenous participants and crew. We acknowledge the relationships and
connections to land and sea, language and customs of the Deaf Indigenous participants,
their families and kin. We wish not to offend or give offense to the cultural
groups, and apologies for any unforeseen cultural circumstances we may be unable
to avoid. We are humbled by the permission granted to film and document these languages, cultures and customs and do so with the utmost respect and dignity
Cultural advisers has been appointed to ensure
all cultural protocols are respected.
What We Need & What You Get
We truly believe that we have to tell these stories to the world, give them a voice and help them become their own person and be heard.
We need to raise US25 000 for the filming in the Solomon Islands, The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in Australia and Maori in New Zealand. Any money that we receive through crowdfunding will be allocated to the hard costs of traveling with a small crew to these countries, as well as a small donation to the cultural advisers helping, interpreting and translating for us in each country.
We have our own post-production facilities and will complete the film with funding from ourselves and Government Agencies.
We will have a 1 hour finished documentary which you can see but our main goal is to present the documentary in July at the 2015 World Congress of the World Federation of the Deaf in Turkey.
http://youtu.be/RE8IHGNvomY
Project Timeline:
Work done to date: 2011-2013 Research, initial filming and pre-production of project.
We have identified our 'hero' stories
All approvals from governments to cultural advisers has been obtained
Currently: Finalising the script
Filming: May 2014 for 3 months
Post-production: October 2014 till end 2014
Release early 2015 to film festivals and the 2015 WFD congress in Turkey. The topic of the WFD congress is Strengthening Human Diversity.
About us:Brent Macpherson was a trained professional actor in the 1990ʼs and as a result he landed some key roles such as:
“A Spectacle of One” 1994 - Theatre productions at the Watershed Theatre directed by
Michael Mizraki from Inside Out. Brent was the main character along side with Michael
Hurst for this show. New Zealand Herald review July 1994 “The casting of Brent
Macpherson and Day Peni-Ikiua, genuine member of the Deaf community of Aucklandʼs
Deaf community making their debuts, proved last night to be a stoke of a genius”
Bernadette Rae “Iʼm So Lonesome I could Cry” 1994 directed by Michael Hurst and selected for competition at Cannes 1994. Brent was the main character portraying Hank Williams with Jennifer Ward Leeland and Mark Wright.
He has been on several television shows such as Shortland Street and Plainclothes
including a TV commercial for Quality Bakers.
Brent left the acting scene to pursue a Degree in Psychology from Massey University as
he believed this qualification would be valuable to formulate and to gain an understanding of characters for filming projects.
Brent Macpherson currently own a successful productions company Stretch Productions
www.stretchproductions.co.nz for over 7 years. To date, he has directed over 35 projects, documentaries and short films mostly related to Deaf issues in terms of access to information for the Deaf community. He produced an award winning Short Film “The Compost” in 2009 including the Best Director, Best Cinematography and Best Short Film. It was selected for the final Short Film category for the Wolverhampton Film Festival in UK in May 2010.
Brent won several tenders from New Zealand Police, Ministry of Health, and Ministry of
Social Development including a “Itʼs Not OK” promotional campaign for the Deaf
community around domestic violence. This resource was highly appraised by the
government due to outstanding role plays in film format. He had enormous pride for this
resource as the actors involved have never acted in this level.
He attended a three day workshop around directing skills by Tom Abrams (a well known
director from the USA) in Parnell in August 2009 funded by New Zealand Film
Commission.
In addition, Brent taught a one week workshop in Melbourne about producing a short film on behalf of Arts Access Victoria.
He now wish to focus in producing short films and documentaries and now itʼs the right
time to apply for funds. He has a deep understanding of New Zealand Sign Language and Deaf cultural characteristics to define Deaf characterʼs values, attitudes and emotions in terms of their perception of the wider society. Brent ultimate goal is to bridge the gap between Deaf and hearing to have a meaningful understanding of each other in terms of a bi-cultural society.
Have any questions: Please feel free to contact Brent the Director at
brent.macpherson@stretchproductions.co.nzPLEASE HELP SPREAD THE WORD AND DONATE GENEROUSLY!